Friday, October 29, 2010

Eurasian Blackbird

Female Eurasian Blackbird, Regents Park, London, UK; 4/10/10.
The Eurasian Blackbird is common and widespread in woods and gardens over all of Europe and much of Asia south of the Arctic Circle. Populations are resident except for northern birds which move south in winter. There are now records of breeding Eurasian Blackbirds in Iceland. The Blackbird has been introduced to many parts of the world outside its native range and in Australia and New Zealand it is considered a pest and has an effect on natural ecosystems. Here in the U.S. there have been sightings in the Northeastern regions, but these are considered accidental, as the birds may have been blown off course by storms.

The male is completely black except for its bright yellow beak and eyering (Below), while the female (Above) has brown plumage and beak and does not sport the yellow eyering. Since I didn't have a good photo of the male, I pulled the photo below from Google Images.

A male Eurasian Blackbird; Photo credit to Robert Scanlon, 2005.


2 comments:

~Val said...

That's odd that the male and female look completely different. The male looks like a black robin (head shape, beak, etc.)

Anonymous said...

Interesting how the female black bird is actually brown...I love her different shades of brown!!